“I can’t have in mind all cases that can exist about conscience objection. But, yes, I can say the conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right. It is a right. And if a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right. Conscientious objection must enter into every juridical structure because it is a right, a human right. Otherwise we would end up in a situation where we select what is a right, saying ‘this right that has merit, this one does not.’ It is a human right, and if a government official is a human person, he has that right.”
— Pope Francis on the papal flight back to Rome, speaking to ABC’s Terry Moran, in reference to clerks denying marriage licenses to gay couples
